Of Mischief, Mayhem and Everything Inbetween
by moso-bean
Summary: We all make mistakes. Some greater than others. Sometimes we're not the ones left to deal with the consequences. When Natasha Kendal starts her fifth year at Hogwarts, little does she know that the events that will unfold this year would turn her reality on it's head.
1. Chapter 1

Natasha Kendal could count everything she knew about her father on one hand.

He'd been a Gryffindor, same as her mother, and the same as her. And it had been a short relationship between him and her mother although Natasha suspected even that was a lie, because her mum wasn't able to keep a pot plant alive despite the fact she could simply charm it back to life. But that was it. Her mum, as cracked as she was at the best of times, had somehow managed to prevent herself from giving away the identity of her father apart from those vague hints when she got too drunk on Firewhisky, or when Natasha did something that really annoyed her.

"_Your father… ha… he wouldn't have cared. Him, and his friends… the little one… Percy? Peter? They liked to cause chaos. He would've liked you." _

Or when she was feeling more vindictive:

"_No wonder your father left before you were born!"_

The last one didn't really matter to Natasha, because from the drip-drop of information over the years, she'd calculated that her dad had left when she was three, or there abouts.

Today was going to be one of the more annoyed ways, as Natasha had spent most of the morning running round their poky flat in Camden trying to find the last few, vitally important things that she needed for the next year at Hogwarts. Somehow over the past six weeks, everything she owned had gravitated to the smallest hideyholes possible.

"Mum, you seen my tie anywhere?" Natasha yelled, her voice muffled from the bottom of the laundry basket. When there was no reply, she raised her voice again. Whatever the grumpy neighbours had to say, they could shove it. "Mum, where's me effin' tie?"

"How should I know?" Her mum snapped from the sofa, where she was already nursing a mug of Firewhisky despite it being quarter to eleven in the morning. "You're the one that's spent the last six weeks cavorting with the boys from the Greenways!"

"Oh charming." Natasha muttered under her breath as she threw a pile of clothes haphazardly into the trunk that lay in the middle of her room, "Really bloody charming."

"You look like a tart." The snide comments were coming thick and fast. They would cease once she'd left for the Leaky Cauldron, replaced by drunken sorrows, and half-felt apologies by owl. "Your father's probably glad he can't see you now."

"Well, he'd probably say the same thing about you." She snarled back, finally spotting the scarlet and gold material behind the back of the kettle. "Why is it behind the fucking kettle?" The last comment was made more to herself than to anyone else, as the girl slammed the lid of her trunk down as loudly as possible before making a final check of the house. Satisfied, she pulled on the old black converse before taking a look in the mirror.

Personally, she didn't think she looked like a tart. Not much anyway. And it wasn't like her mother was one to make comments on other people's appearances when she spent most days in a ratty old dressing gown apart from when she got dressed up for the pull, which recently were most nights. So really, Natasha didn't think that wearing shorts with fishnets was all that much of a problem.

In her haste to escape the house as fast as possible, she'd failed to notice that the small flat had gone oddly silent. Grabbing the cage of her owl, and only means of wizarding contact over the summer, she dragged her trunk into the main part of the flat before taking one look round.

"See you at Christmas then."

There was no reply and sighing, Natasha pulled open the flimsy door only to be stopped by the reedy voice that seemed to echo in the empty flat.

"The train doesn't leave until tomorrow."

"I'm meeting the twins at the Leaky Cauldron and setting off with them in the morning. I've been telling you all summer." Natasha replied, staring at the door of the flat opposite.

When her response was met with silence she took as her cue to leave and stepped out into the cramped hallway, breathing a sigh of relief. The summer was finally over.

…

If there was a way to get across London without drawing too much attention to you, Natasha was unaware of it. Coming to an abrupt halt outside a small convenience store, she leant her trunk against the wall and perched on top of it, next to her owl. Ignoring the odd looks she was receiving from passers-by, Natasha slid her fingers through the thin bars before absently stroking the soft feathers of her black owl, Inky.

"S'alright Inks, we'll be back at Hogwarts soon." It was nice sitting there. Slightly detached from the people on the streets, but still able to watch them and bask in the late August sunshine. Tucking a stray piece of hair back behind her ear, she gave one last look round at the scene before climbing to her feet.

It had taken her almost an hour to get across London, but that had involved trying to take a full sized trunk, plus the owl and her stuff for overnight on several buses, and enduring abuse from two bus drivers and a couple of drunk students from a nearby uni. Apparently, it wasn't just her mum who liked to get hammered before lunchtime.

Spotting the battered sign of the Leaky Cauldron, it was all Natasha could do to stop herself from screaming as she made her way down the opposite pavement grinning like a deranged serial killer. When she spotted several ginger heads emerging from the non-descript shop next door, her grin grew wider than the Cheshire Cat's.

"Oi, Ginge!" The few heads that weren't gazing intrigued at the girl wearing fishnet tights and dragging an owl through the middle of London turned and watched as she darted across the road to an orchestra of car horns.

"What d'ya think you're doing, crazy bitch?"

"Aha, piss off!" She grinned wildly at the frustrated taxi driver, giving him a two-fingered salute before arriving slightly out of breath in front of the Weasley family.

"Sup twinnies? Hi Mr and Mrs Weasley." She gave a brief smile, black hair slowly falling down into her eyes.

"Did you have a good summer dear?" Molly Weasley ushered the girl further onto the pavement where passers-by had to swerve to avoid the mountain of ginger-haired children, trunks and owls that now littered the pavement.

"S'alright thanks." And all of a sudden, the tensions of the past six weeks drained away and Natasha was itching to get inside the dark, smoky rooms of the Leaky Cauldron and into the alley that lay behind it.

"Come on Mum, we've got to meet Hermione in five minutes." Ron moaned, and with that the nine Weasleys and Natasha made their way into the smoky pub.

It was only later on, the three of them lounging on the cobbled floor of one of the sidestreets from Diagon Alley against the sun soaked wall of a tea shop that they talked properly.

"Mum went mental when she heard about Black escaping." Fred sighed, flicking a Chocolate Frog card between his fingers. "Once we got back from Egypt, she wouldn't let us out the house on our own."

"He's the one who betrayed the Potters, isn't he?" Natasha asked, squinting against the sun. "Poor Harry."

"He doesn't know." George replied, with a grimace, "And Mum says we're not allowed to tell him." He added hurriedly. At that, Natasha choked on the water she'd drinking and started to cough loudly.

"What d'ya… mean… he…" The rest of the sentence dissolved into a coughing fit, and the twins took it upon themselves to slap their friend on the back until it disappeared. "Alright, alright, that's fine. Get off me you tossers!" She grinned, shifting her position against the wall.

"He's a maniac." Fred muttered a few minutes later.

"God knows how he got out." Natasha, like most wizarding children had found out about the wizard prison from her mum, only it was explained to her with more vivid imagery than a horror film. "If you think your mum was a bit OTT, you should've seen mine." When the twins looked at her questioningly, she tried to explain.

"He was on the Muggle news. On the telly, it's like a moving picture only it changes." When George looked like he was about to ask some more questions, she quickly moved on. "Anyway, as soon as his picture came up, she took one look at it and screamed blue bloody murder until the people upstairs came to check that no one was getting tortured."

"After that, she disappeared for a few hours and came back with all these books on old magic, unbreakable oaths, blood magic that sort of thing and tried to get me to smear my blood on the doorframe. When I refused to she…"

Natasha broke off for a second, taking a deep breath and pushed back the sleeve of her over-sized green t-shirt. On the lightly tanned skin of her upper arm, a pinky-red scar ran straight down the middle as if it had been made by a ruler.

"Tash… bloody hell." Fred glanced at his twin, before awkwardly scratching the side of his head. "Did she manage to do the spells?"

"Course she didn't. This is my mother we're talking about." The broken look that had appeared on the girl's face for a second had gone, as Natasha rolled her eyes with a smirk. "She tried for a few minutes, got annoyed when it didn't work and went to the pub."

The trio sat there in comfortable silence for several minutes before George spoke again. "Don't know about you two, but I fancy an ice cream."

"Fortescue's?"

"Obviously." George's reply was scarily reminiscent of their Potions teacher, as Natasha scrambled to her feet with a laugh.

…

**Thanks for checking out this story, reviews would be better than chocolate. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

The sounds of the busy train were slightly muffled inside their carriage, where a fierce game of Exploding Snap was taking place between the two twins. Laying almost horizontal on the opposite rows of seats, Natasha reached into the small bag that contained everything from plastic toys from a Muggle Christmas cracker to several pieces of string, and pulled out a small lighter and the slightly crushed packet of fags that had accidentally been sat on by George the previous evening.

Before either of the twins could comment, she lit up and climbed up on the seat, sticking her head out into the cool air to exhale.

"Don't look at me like that." She groaned between inhaling. "It was bad enough getting a bloody lecture from Hermione yesterday about how it's gonna ruin my teeth."

"Would we dare do that to you?" Fred gave her a wink before turning back to card game.

"Better keep an eye out though." George warned, "Percy's already been down this way twice, and he's bound to give you a detention for that."

"Well he can sod off." Natasha grumbled half-heartedly. "It's OWLs year, and if I can't relieve the stress somehow, then I'll have a breakdown."

"You had to remind us of that, didn't you?" Sighing, George placed another card down on the table. "Anyway, we haven't started them yet."

"Whatever." Flicking the butt out the small window, Natasha shoved the evidence back into the impossibly small bag before leaning back into the seat. "Any ideas about how to welcome in the new year? I've a giant box of Dungbombs to break into."

"I'm thinking something more spectacular to start in the new term." Fred shared a look with George, who grinned sinisterly in reply.

"And something tells me you have a plan."

"When do we not have a plan?" George replied.

"So what is it? Dying Snape's hair pink? Booby trapping the portrait hole so everyone gets a load of glitter dropped on their heads?"

"No, but great ideas mon Cherie." George mimed scribbling on the back of his hand. "But we will remember them for a later time. Anyway, this plan is even more amazing than that."

"Fire away."

…

The lights were on in the majority of the carriages now as the train moved through the dark Scottish countryside. The twins had only just changed into their uniforms, and Natasha's robes lay crumpled in the corner nearest the door.

"Seriously, when's the train going to get there? I'm starving." Natasha groaned and clutched at her stomach dramatically.

"You're always starving." Fred replied, his nose pressed against the window for any sign that they'd reached their destination.

"And? You're always… oh look, we must be here." Natasha broke off as the train shuddered violently and began to slow down.

"Don't look like it." George frowned, pulling his robes on quickly. "Bloody hell, it's never this cold normally."

"Maybe they just need to refuel or something." Natasha stretched languidly on her tiptoes, her hands nearly touching the ceiling.

"It doesn't need to Tash, it uses magic." Fred smirked. "You're such a Muggle sometimes."

"Shut up Weasley." She growled back in reply with a grin. "Anyway, what if –" But before she could finish the sentence, the whole carriage gave a violent jolt and plunged into darkness. Natasha, already off balance, was thrown across the small compartment, knocking into George as she went.

"Bloody hell Tash!"

"I think I broke my nose."

"Whose elbow is that?"

"Here George, I'll pull you up."

"Tash, your elbow is in my stomach."

The muffled screams of the surrounding carriages was all that could be heard as the three scrambled to their feet once more, stumbling in the half darkness. As their eyes slowly adjusted to the light of the compartment, a movement from outside caught Natasha's eye as she strained through the darkness.

"There's something out-" Before she could finish a long scaly claw appeared on the handle of the door pulling the glass divider open with a creak. The dark shadow grew clearer, as all the heat and light was sucked out of the compartment.

Natasha let out a yelp and tripped over backwards in her attempt to get as far away from the creature as the confined compartment allowed. All the noise from outside had gone now, as the ragged breathing of three teenagers was joined by something else. A deathly rattle was coming from underneath the hooded cloak of the creature in the doorway. It stood there surveying the small room for what seemed like an eternity before gliding away into the corridor.

The three didn't move, staying close together for reassurance more than anything else. As soon as the lights flickered back on however, Natasha dived over to her side of the compartment and pulled out the fags that had been abandoned earlier, and pulled her legs up to her chin as she tried to light the end with shaking hands.

"What are Dementors doing on the Hogwarts Express?" Fred muttered his face pale under the recently acquired freckles.

"Merlin knows." His twin replied. Natasha didn't comment, only stared out the window as the train began to move once again.

A few minutes later after a boy named Malfoy – who in Natasha's mind, bore an uncannily resemblance to a ferret – had burst in looking as pale as a ghost, the witch who pushed the refreshments trolley appeared.

"We'll be at Hogsmeade in a few minutes my dears." She smiled, but it didn't quite meet her eyes as she too looked rather shaken.

"Thanks." One of them mumbled, as Natasha blew a final stream of smoke at the ceiling before wrenching open the small window and discarding the remains of her cigarette.

"Well," She gave a small grin, "You can't say that Hogwarts isn't exciting."

"That's one way of putting it." Fred smiled back, before stretching. "C'mon, we better start getting ready."

"Don't want to miss the feast!" George replied.

"I look forward to this feast for the entire year." Natasha's eyes glazed over as she attempted to shove all the rubbish into her tiny bag without looking. "I swear it gets better each year."

"What did I say?" Fred gestured to an imaginary audience. "Obsessed with food she is."

He barely had time to duck before a hefty looking copy of the Transfiguration text book was thrown straight at his head.

…

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts!" Dumbledore's voice rang across the now silent Great Hall. "I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast…"

Natasha let out a low groan, and slumped forwards onto the Gryffindor table. "No, we want food now."

"Oi, get up." George hissed into her ear. "Percy's glaring at you."

"Staying here until food." Came the muffled reply.

"Well, unless you want a plate of chicken balanced on your head…"

"Plus, I think Percy might explode in a minute."

Natasha raised her head up and looked across to where Percy had turned a spectacular shade of puce, before sitting up straight. "But if this speech carries on for more than five minutes, I'm starting a revolution."

"…pleased to welcome two more teachers to our ranks this year. Firstly, Professor Lupin who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher." Applause rang out as the man in shabby robes bowed his head at the students.

"Dunno how good he'll be at Defence," whispered George. "He looks like a strong wind could blow him over."

"I don't think he's eaten for weeks." Fred muttered, from next to his twin.

Natasha nodded in agreement, as the rest of the table broke into loud applause at the mention of Hagrid's new post. The three joined in with the rest of their house for a few moments, before the hall settled into silence once more.

"Well I think that's everything of importance. Let the feast begin!" Dumbledore gave a smile to the students, and sat down again as the plates and goblets began to fill up.

"I'm in heaven." Natasha sighed, staring at the food around her reverently.

"Anyone would think you hadn't seen food in months." A sixth year beside her muttered.

"So then," George cleared his throat a few minutes later and leant in. "All agreed we do the prank tomorrow?"

"I don't want to get detention for the first Hogsmeade weekend." Natasha prodded a roast potato with startling ferocity.

"That won't be until October though." Fred reasoned, "Anyway, who says we're gonna get caught?"

"Seeing as Snape hates us, I'm saying that we probably will." She replied, as the last roast potato changed into a large platter of treacle tart.

"Don't so pessimistic Tash." George helped himself to the bright pink jelly next to his elbow.

"Fine, but don't blame me if we get caught."

"Would we ever do that?!" The twins spoke in unison, exchanging identically evil grins.

"Yeah, you would, and you have. A lot." She grumbled, before trying to fit an extraordinarily large piece of apple pie into her mouth.

"Fair point."

"You know it." Her reply came out muffled by the food, as Fred smirked at the dusting of sugar on the end of her nose.

Soon the feast ended, and the reply of 'first years, follow me' was called out in a familiar voice. Turning so fast she almost cricked her neck, Natasha stood up to get a better look and her suspicions were confirmed when she saw the blonde head of her roommate leading the tiny eleven year olds out of the hall.

"Becky's a prefect." She sighed, as the twins climbed to their feet. "My days of fun are over."

"Shame."

"And she was such a nice girl." Fred sighed, as they moved through the throng of students all trying to fit through the doors at the same time.

"I'll see you bright and early in the morning then!" Natasha finished, when they'd finally managed to battle their way to the Gryffindor tower, with an overly happy grin before pushing open the door that led to the girl's dormitories. Her dorm was on the third floor of the girls' side, and it was probably one of the best places in the world.

Because of a large majority of female Gryffindor girls in her year, they had been split into two dorms and Natasha was one with the better end of the bargain, with only two other girls in her room. And on top of that, they had a brilliant view of the grounds from the latticed windows.

"Tasha! D'you have a good summer?" Before she could step into the door, she was attacked by a small, fiercely blond girl, with a smile a mile wide.

"Amy, personal space yeah?" She managed to get out, slightly breathless from the stairs as Amy took a sheepish step back.

"Sorry 'bout that." The girl replied, before leaping onto her bed nearest the bathroom.

"No problem. S'alright, how 'bout you?"

"It was great thanks, just went on holiday to Spain." Amy motioned to her golden tan with a smile. "Do you want a sweet?" A bag was thrown across the room and landed on the end of Natasha's bed.

"Ta." Her battered trunk had already been brought up by the house elves, and it was unceremoniously thrown open with gusto. It had been one of her worries before she started, being the only first-year with a second hand, and obviously used, trunk. But, as she thought, it was one of the things that drew her towards the twins, which was definitely a good thing.

"I swear first-years get shriller and more annoying every year." In the midst of the unpacking both girls had failed to notice their final friend enter the room.

"Is that the new Gryffindor prefect I hear?" Natasha grinned, leaning back against the bedpost to look round at Becky. "Surely she can't be fed up of them already? I thought she was meant to be a moral, upstanding member of the community!"

"They are annoying little shits." The willowy blonde scowled, collapsing onto the bed. "And no Natasha, that doesn't mean you have permission to use them as servants for yours and twins evil plots."

"And there I went thinking you would be a kind prefect."

"You can still have your morning smoke, if that's what you mean." Becky rolled onto the bed, stretching her legs out behind her. "

"How did you know I was-"

"Because I've shared a dorm with you for four years Tasha, and although we're not best friends I still know what you mean, even when you don't say it." The prefect replied.

"Plus you've had a morning smoke since about halfway through third year." Amy interrupted from where she was trying to fit a large box under her bed.

"That as well. Bad habits Natasha."

"I didn't come here to get bullied by you lot, y'know."

"Us, bully you? You're talking to a prefect here Miss Kendal."

"Is that your prefect voice?" Natasha replied, throwing several jumpers into the bottom of her wardrobe. "If so, I can see why the firsties don't listen to you."

It was about to launch into a full scale pillow fight, until Amy let out a piercing scream.

"THERE'S A SPIDER THE SIZE OF A HOUSE UNDER HERE!"

…

**Firstly, I own nothing of Harry Potter or any of JKR's characters.**

**Secondly, please check out my beta PrioritiesSorted. She is brilliant, writes well and is a lovely person. **

**Thanks for reading, reviews would be appreciated! :)**


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